creativelycliche's review
4.0
A fairly succinct, well-written review of the world-shaking incident at Palomares - in which at the height of the cold war a nuclear-carrying B-52 bomber of the USAF on a routine flight collided with the plane that was refueling it in mid-air and dropped four Hydrogen bombs thousands of times more powerful than the bombs dropped in 1945.
There are several reasons I like this book. First, it is VERY readable - while there are some copy errors, it was written 1. very soon after the event it describes and 2. by a reporter, who writes very well. It also does a very good job of describing the important ramifications around the incident and paints a very good picture of the Cold War - from a British reporter, no less. The background of the non-proliferation treaty, fights over the SAC bases and bomber flights, De Gaulle's kicking NATO out of France and so much more are explained smoothly and add to the understanding of the gravity of the situation. Morris also does an excellent job quoting liberally and listening to scientists about the bomb, being sufficiently sensational and descriptive to increase tension without becoming overly dramatic. Finally, Morris is actually funny. He at times praises and criticises the US response to the disaster, including the firm "No comments" leading to the truly hysterical quote from the US press liason that he "could not comment on what he could not comment on".
There are still perhaps some places where they could have trimmed the prose. It's a short book already, but it does try to drag in a few places. It is also definitely dated - this is a book written in 1966 after all - and occasionally that 'I know answers this guy doesn't' get in the way of the story a little, but equally provide good moments of clarity about how real some of those feelings of doom really were.
If reading about bits of history interests you, this is a very good, clear and thorough reading of an important but today rarely spoken about event. It isn't very dark, but is a good picture of the US military and nuclear tensions circa the mid 1960s. If you don't know much about the event, this will pretty well provide you with everything you need to know.
There are several reasons I like this book. First, it is VERY readable - while there are some copy errors, it was written 1. very soon after the event it describes and 2. by a reporter, who writes very well. It also does a very good job of describing the important ramifications around the incident and paints a very good picture of the Cold War - from a British reporter, no less. The background of the non-proliferation treaty, fights over the SAC bases and bomber flights, De Gaulle's kicking NATO out of France and so much more are explained smoothly and add to the understanding of the gravity of the situation. Morris also does an excellent job quoting liberally and listening to scientists about the bomb, being sufficiently sensational and descriptive to increase tension without becoming overly dramatic. Finally, Morris is actually funny. He at times praises and criticises the US response to the disaster, including the firm "No comments" leading to the truly hysterical quote from the US press liason that he "could not comment on what he could not comment on".
There are still perhaps some places where they could have trimmed the prose. It's a short book already, but it does try to drag in a few places. It is also definitely dated - this is a book written in 1966 after all - and occasionally that 'I know answers this guy doesn't' get in the way of the story a little, but equally provide good moments of clarity about how real some of those feelings of doom really were.
If reading about bits of history interests you, this is a very good, clear and thorough reading of an important but today rarely spoken about event. It isn't very dark, but is a good picture of the US military and nuclear tensions circa the mid 1960s. If you don't know much about the event, this will pretty well provide you with everything you need to know.
More...